Ft. Wayne girl wins art contest

December 21, 2008

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) -- A 9-year-old girl has won a national coloring contest prompted by the disappearance and murder of another girl three years ago. The death of 10-year-old Alejandra Gutierrez led to the location of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to Fort Wayne. On Thursday, 10 days after the 3-year anniversary of her disappearance, Fairfield Elementary School fourth-grader Ma June was named winner of the NCMEC art contest. The picture she drew will be printed on posters, postcards, bookmarks and other materials distributed in the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico for the next year through the NCMEC Fort Wayne Task Force. "Right now, the main goal is awareness and prevention," said Krista Stockman, a member of the task force representing Fort Wayne Community Schools. She said since Alejandra's disappearance, the task force has distributed information on child safety and hosted an annual community fair. "We might think these are things that kids know, but we need to tell them over and over and over again," Stockman said. An illegal immigrant who was serving five life sentences for the strangling deaths of his wife, three young daughters and Alejandra committed suicide in his cell at the Pendleton Correctional Facility in October. "I carry that with me whenever I'm out there in the community," said task force chairman Ric Robles, a Fort Wayne police officer who interrogated the killer. "I know those people are out there and they do exist."